Introduction
In Part 1 of this series,1 I drew attention to a remarkable convergence of Kabbalistic concepts with ideas at the beating heart of quantum mechanics. Specifically, it was argued that a construct referred to as the Raisha D’lo Ityadah (RADLA) or ‘Unknowable Head’ bears striking similarities, if not frank identity, with Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle—a pillar of quantum theory. Based on this juxtaposition, we went on to show how the RADLA/Uncertainty Principle isolates human consciousness from the Mind of G‑d thereby preserving for us the experience of free will (B’chira Chofshit). In earlier publications, 2 3 4 we described how on rare occasions—namely, during prophecy—the minds of certain individuals may ‘penetrate’ this RADLA membrane and thereby intuit the Will of G‑d. In this instalment, evidence is adduced that many of the key advances made by 20th century physicist David Bohm (1917–1992), based on his mathematics and scientific inferences, are conceptually indistinguishable from ancient Kabbalistic doctrine. A glossary of the relevant Kabbalistic terms is provided below.
Albert Einstein publicly acknowledged Bohm as one of his intellectual successors.5 Yet, Bohm’s physics was iconoclastic and deviated substantially from the ‘mainstream’ (Copenhagen) interpretation of quantum mechanics. In particular, he was rankled by what he considered a lackluster approach taken by Niels Bohr and other top physicists to matters of causality and interconnectedness.6 Bohm’s perspective on nature became progressively more holistic and resembled the teachings of Eastern mysticism to a greater extent than it did the prevailing science of his time. There is little doubt that his extensive rapport with the Indian teacher Jiddu Krishnamurti, and possibly subliminal influences of exposure to Munkacs Chassidut at home,7 helped color Bohm’s ‘unorthodox’ scientific outlook. At Princeton and beyond, Bohm developed his theory of ‘hidden variables’ and the ‘Implicate Order’ (see below) which signaled a significant departure from conventional physics. Bohm’s perception of the universe’s holographic design and the contingency of reality’s countless particulars on a state of utter wholeness has gained in popularity since his death;8 and his ideas are impacting not only physics but also psychology, the neurosciences, religion and the study of consciousness. 3 Bohm was once asked in an interview how his physics differs from what mystics have been attempting to describe from time immemorial. “I don’t know that there’s necessarily any difference” was his surprising response. 9 In this essay, I will demonstrate that several key themes of Bohmian mechanics have compelling homologues in the Kabbalistic literature.
Hidden Variables, the Implicate Order and Hitlabshut
Bohm’s intuition and mathematics led him to theorize that the cosmos and its innumerable contents and processes emerge from an indivisible wholeness which he termed the ‘holomovement.’ Bohm envisioned the existence of each part to hinge upon its intimate relationship to the whole, implying that individuality is only feasible if it unfolds from wholeness. Bohm believed that “the world acts more like a single indivisible unit, in which…each part (wave or particle) depends…on its relationship to its surroundings;” 10 that “the inseparable quantum interconnectedness of the whole universe is the fundamental reality”; and “(the) relatively independent behaving parts are merely particular and contingent forms within this whole.” 11 The holomovement, according to Bohm, manifests as (i) a familiar reality or ‘Explicate Order’ accessible to our senses directly or via instrumentation and (ii) an ‘Implicate Order’ consisting of layer upon layer of imperceptible ‘hidden variables.’ Bohm regarded each deeper layer as more abstract than, but ultimately responsible for giving rise to, the dimension mapping immediately superficial to it, with the most proximate hidden layer giving rise to the familiar explicate order. He envisioned dynamic interactions between the implicate and explicate orders, with shifts termed ‘enfoldments’ rendering implicate that which was previously explicate, and ‘unfoldment’ allowing previously hidden variables to enter human awareness. 12 13 Interested readers are referred to earlier publications which provide cogent analogies invoked by Bohm to convey his notion of implicate and explicate orders.3 7
Bohm’s implicate and explicate orders, with their dynamic enfoldments and unfoldments, bear striking conceptual similarities—and may in fact be identical—with the Kabbalistic principle of Hitlabshut which translates as ‘ensheathment’ or ‘enclothment.’3 7 Hitlabshut connotes a system whereby the ‘bottom’ aspect of a World, Partzuf or Sefirah is ‘dressed within’ or ‘enclothed by’ the uppermost aspects of its immediately underlying counterpart. This relationship can be conceptualized as a partially extended telescope pointing downwards (Fig. 1). The upper rungs denoting more refined levels of spiritual reality nearer to the G‑dhead (Ein-Sof) are interior to and partially covered by the lower, progressively more ‘mundane’ rungs. The overlapping joints serve as conduits through which Divine Influence ‘descending’ form upper strata guides events within the lower realms. By virtue of this overlap, each lower level conceals the ‘higher’/‘inner’ domain from our direct perception but permits us to infer the latter’s existence and role.
We see that there is little or no sacrifice of intended meaning when the jargon used by Bohm to elucidate his innovations in quantum mechanics is interchanged with homologous Kabbalistic terminology. Where Bohm speaks of a ‘holomovement’ to describe Reality’s absolute wholeness from which all particulars spring and to which they remain inextricably linked, the Kabbalah employs the corresponding concepts Ohr Ein-Sof, Shlaymut, Klal and Oivi.14 15 Bohm’s ‘implicate order’ can be readily understood as a ladder of spiritual domains ‘above’ Malchut of Malchut of Asiyah—the ‘lowest’ rung of the Kabbalistic hierarchy (Seder Hishtalshelut). Similarly, Bohm’s ‘explicate order’ can be construed as the physical domain directly amenable to our perception at the very ‘bottom’ of the Seder Hishtalshelut. Bohmian mechanics dictate that each domain of the holomovement arises from, clothes and is causally influenced by the layer immediately deep (‘implicate’) to it. Similarly, the concept of Hitlabshut (Ensheathment) mandates that each station of the Kabbalistic hierarchy ‘dresses’ and is controlled by the element immediately ‘above’ or ‘interior’ to it. The Kabbalah teaches further that the components comprising its hierarchy are in flux among various states of concealment and revelation.3 Bohm captures precisely this dynamic invoking the terms ‘enfoldment’ and ‘unfoldment’, with the former connoting the ‘upward/inward’ movement into hidden unification (Oivi) and the latter a ‘descent’ into apparent disunity(Orech).3 7
Hitkallelut, Hitkashrut and the Holographic Universe
Perhaps the most revolutionary concept that Bohm introduced into contemporary quantum theory is the universe’s holographic design—an idea that continues to impact scientific disciplines beyond physics and fire the public imagination.3 7 In addition to the notion of implicate and explicate orders, Bohm’s physics posits that the entire cosmos is based on a grand holographic design—with each part containing (enfolding) a miniature replica of the entire universe! A hologram is a 2-dimensional recording of interfering light waves which, when appropriately illuminated (e.g. by a laser), reassembles a 3-dimensional image of the object originally captured within that field. Many of you have undoubtedly encountered holographic projections in museums and the popular media.
Holograms differ from photographs in a rather dramatic way: If one cuts out, say, a right upper segment of a standard photograph of the Earth’s globe, the excised portion may display parts of Eastern Europe and not much else. In the case of a hologram, however, the isolated segment reconstitutes an image of the entire globe, albeit in miniature. As the holographic image is repeatedly dissected, smaller and smaller–but intact–globes are produced with each ‘cut.’ In holograms, the whole is recapitulated in each of its parts, a counter-intuitive phenomenon based on the non-local (quantum) nature of the interference pattern of light. In Bohm’s view, our conventional notions of time, space, separation and distance apply only to the ‘surface’ of things as they are revealed within the explicate order. As in the case of a hologram, physical objects A and B may be separated by enormous expanses of time and space in the linear, explicate order while little or no such separation may exist between components of A and B that remain hidden (enfolded) within the implicate order’s holographic design.16 This astonishing concept is an essential aspect of the inter-inclusiveness of G‑d’s Creation and a fundamental feature of the ancient Kabbalistic landscape where it is referred to as Hitkallelut. 17 18
Hitkallelut or ‘Interinclusion’ encompasses the startling notion that the whole is recapitulated or contained within each of its parts: כל מה שהוא בכללות כן הוא בפרטות 19 ;להיות כל ההנהגה בכל חלק. 20 Thus are included within each Sefirah (Fig. 2), Partzuf and Olam (World) miniature versions of all the others.
Both the Jewish mystical tradition and Bohmian mechanics support the mind-bending idea that embedded within each wave and particle is all of the energy and matter in the Universe; that the distant past and remote future are etched within every present moment; and that enfolded within each thought is the totality of human cognition and consciousness!7 Perhaps Rashi’s comment שכל דבר ההוה תמיד כבר היה ועתיד להיות (“All things currently in existence have always existed and will continue to exist in the future”) can be allegorically interpreted as reference to the holographic nature of time. Along similar lines, a Neshama Klalit (General Soul) could refer to the Soul of a Chassidic Rebbe or other rare individual in which are rendered explicate (M’galeh) the consciousness of numerous others which typically lay enfolded (Ne’elam) within the hologram of Creation and are therefore usually accessible to no one but themselves.
By linking the additional Kabbalistic principle of ‘Interpenetration’ or ‘Interconnectivity’ (Hitkashrut) to Hitkallelut, the Kabbalah takes the indivisibility of the holographic universe a step further. Hitkashrut reinforces the Creation’s unity by establishing seamless connections between a specific part of one mini-hologram (e.g. the Sefirah Chesed) and its innumerable counterparts (Sefirot Chesed) spread across the vast hierarchical network of the Creation (Fig. 3).
Hitkashrut (Interpenetration) may be read into the words of the Psalmist: מלכותך מלכות כל עולמים.21 Typically translated as “Your Kingdom is a Kingdom for all ages”, a Kabbalistic interpretation may be rendered as follows: מלכותך … the grand unification of the Sefirah, Malchut … מלכות כל עולמים … is the coalescence of the innumerable mini-Malchuts distributed across all the Worlds of Creation. 22 A Biblical example of Interpenetration is the miraculous partition of all bodies of water concomitant with the splitting of Yam Suf at the Exodus from Egypt.23 Hitkashrut was also invoked to explain the Midrashic account of sudden and widespread fecundity among hitherto childless women that coincided with the birth of a child to Sarah Imeinu.24 As detailed elsewhere,3 7 numerous instantiations of Hitkallelut and Hitkashrut are to be found in optical physics (e.g. the phenomenon of ‘quantum entanglement’), the field of cytogenetics and the operations of basic biology.
Conclusion
In Part 11 and the current instalment of this series, we garnered evidence demonstrating that two highly counterintuitive systems—one sourced in leading-edge scientific experimentation and inference, the other in ancient Jewish mysticism—exhibit a remarkable convergence in their description of the ultimate features of existence. In the third and final chapter, the enigma of consciousness will be elucidated based on the Kabbalistic principles discussed to date and as informed by the tenets of quantum and relativity theory. The intriguing symmetries between contemporary science and the Jewish mystical tradition have inspired physicist Joel Primack and historian Nancy Ellen Abrams to issue the following proclamation:
“We will turn to Kabbalah, medieval Jewish mysticism, as a possible source of language and metaphor, because certain Kabbalistic concepts fit our picture amazingly well. Moreover, Kabbalah’s cosmology gave meaning and purpose to the everyday lives of its adherents, which we hope may become possible with the scientific cosmology emerging today.”25
These statements were made over a quarter of a century ago and are proving ever more salient today as we continue to probe the fundamentals of reality with greater and greater precision. One may anticipate that this conflation of Torah and science will accelerate massively—in fulfilment of the Zohar’s prophecy26—as we encroach on Eleph Ha’Shvii and the Messianic Era.
More information on this topic can be found in Schipper HM. Kabbalistic Panpsychism — The Enigma of Consciousness in Jewish Mystical Thought. Winchester, UK: John Hunt Publishing, 2021
Glossary of Kabbalistic Terms Contained in this Work
Asiyah עשיה: the World of Action
B'chira Chofshit בחירה חפשית: free will
Briah בריאה: the World of Creation
Chesed חסד: Lovingkindness/Expansiveness; a Sefirah
Da'at דעת: Knowledge; a Sefirah
Ein-Sof אין-סוף: the Infinite (G‑dhead)
Eleph Ha’Shvii אלף השביעי: Seventh (Messianic) Millennium
Hitkallelut התכללות: interinclusion
Hitkashrut התקשרות: interpenetration or interconnectivity
Hitlabshut התלבשות: enclothment; ensheathment; overlap
Kabbalah קבלה: esoteric Torah; Jewish mysticism
Keter כתר (Ketarim, pl.): Crown/Divine Will; a Sefirah
Klal כלל: whole/wholeness
Malchut מלכות: Kingship; a Sefirah
M’galeh מגלה: revealed
Ne’elam נעלם: hidden
Neshama Klalit נשמה כללית: General Soul
Ohr אור: Light (metaphysical)
Ohr Ein-Sof אור אין-סוף: Light of the G‑dhead
Oivi עובי: "horizontality", implying 'ascent' into greater wholeness
Olam עולם: World (metaphysical)
Orech אורך: "verticality", implying 'descent' into greater separateness
Partzuf פרצוף (Partzufim, pl.): face/visage/countenance; a configuration of Sefirot
Raisha D'lo Ityadah (RADLA) רישא דלא אתידע: The Unknowable Head; aspect of Keter
Seder Hishtalshelut סדר השתלשלות: causal hierarchy within the kabbalistic superstructure
Sefirah ספירה (Sefirot, pl.): metaphysical Force or Attribute of the Ein-Sof
Shlaymut שלימות: wholeness
Yam Suf ים סוף: Red (Reed) Sea
Yetzirah יצירה: the World of Formation
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